When Scifres converted his first extra point attempt, Weddle thought the moonlighting punter had “caught it a little fat.” Scifres’ later efforts were cleaner, but Turner chose a fourth-and-20 pass attempt rather than allow Scifres to try a 43-yard field goal into the wind late in the first half.

“I hadn’t gotten a chance to see him kick,” Turner said. “At halftime, he got a chance to kick some and I got a chance to watch him. … I actually told him when they do the promotion where they let that (fan) kick and try to win whatever he’s trying to win, that he should go out and try to kick a couple so we can see how it goes.

“That’s not legal. We made a decision that we’re not going to kick it unless we’re up in there pretty close. I didn’t want to put him in the position where he goes out there and gets a field goal blocked or have disaster happen.”

Scifres showed enough leg at halftime and on his second extra point that Turner elected to expand his range. When the Chargers moved to the Minnesota 22-yard line early in the fourth quarter, with the wind at their backs and trailing the Vikings by three points, Scifres was told to attempt his first professional field goal from 40 yards out.

Imagine a piano virtuoso being asked, abruptly, to play a tricky passage from Chopin, and on the violin. Then imagine him nailing it.

“Kicking off and the field goal is a lot more across your body, whereas punting is more of a straight line,” Scifres said. “Fortunately, we didn’t have to punt after I had to start kicking field goals and kickoffs, so I wasn’t affected by it today.”

Unless another injury intercedes, Scifres is unlikely to get an encore. The Chargers will want a specialist to replace Kaeding, and can be expected to end Scifres’ multi-tasking.

If that means Mike Scifres is finished kicking field goals, he has finished with a flourish.

“I’m going to go back and soak this one up,” he said. “It’s like a receiver catching his first pass or a quarterback throwing his first touchdown.”

He was in no hurry, however, to study his technique.

“I don’t care how I made it,” Mike Scifres said. “That I made it is all that matters.”